Ex-Ukrainian Officer Claims Senior Military Intelligence Ordered Monaco Bombing
Vitalii Zhykovych, facing murder charges, alleges the attack on businessman Vadym Yermolayev was retaliation for funding Crimea's annexation.
A former Ukrainian security services officer, Vitalii Zhykovych, claims senior members of Ukraine's military intelligence agency, HUR, ordered the attempted assassination of businessman Vadym Yermolayev in Monaco. Zhykovych, interviewed by the BBC from a Kyiv prison, stated he believed the attack was orchestrated by HUR officials.
The June bombing in Monaco injured Yermolayev, a Ukrainian-born businessman with Cypriot citizenship, and his 13-year-old son, while Yermolayev's partner sustained severe injuries. Zhykovych described himself as a "freelancer" for Ukraine's SBU security service and identified Anastasia Berezovska, the woman apprehended planting the bomb, as his "agent."
Berezovska was found dead with gunshot wounds west of Kyiv a week after the Monaco incident. Zhykovych denies ordering her to kill or being responsible for her death, though he is accused of her murder along with an active-duty HUR officer named Vladyslav Reut. Reut initially confessed to investigators before altering his testimony in court to implicate Zhykovych.
Zhykovych presented his theory to the BBC, suggesting that Reut told him the bombing was a response to Yermolayev "funding the annexation of Crimea." Zhykovych interpreted this to mean Yermolayev was paying taxes to Russia from businesses located in Russian-occupied Crimea.
He also revealed that Reut mentioned a second target for the operation, though Zhykovych declined to name the individual. Unconfirmed reports suggest the second target may have been a pro-Russian blogger convicted in absentia for treason by Ukraine.
Zhykovych asserted that Berezovska was working with him as an agent "against Muscovy" (Russia) and that they had connected online with the goal of "repel[ling] the armed aggression of the Russian Federation." Berezovska's husband, however, has disputed this, calling the allegation "nonsense" and suggesting she was unwittingly drawn into the affair. He stated Berezovska had been living in Germany since 2022 as a refugee with her son.
According to Zhykovych, Berezovska contacted him the day after the Monaco attack, explaining that Reut had promised her a substantial fee of $50,000, stating, "$50,000 doesn't just lie on the streets." Residents of Berezovska's village indicated she was saving money to purchase an apartment. They reported that she was lured into the woods and killed after traveling to Ukraine to collect funds.
Yermolayev himself has previously dismissed theories linking the attack to organized crime or scam call centers, noting that his son, Artur Yermolayev, was convicted in Estonia earlier this year for defrauding citizens through such networks, known as "offisy" in Ukraine. Vadym Yermolayev stated to Ukrainska Pravda that he "never had anything to do with anything" related to the case.